The federal government has announced the approval of ExxonMobil’s $1.28 billion divestment of its oil and gas assets to Seplat Energy, marking a significant milestone in the transaction first announced in February 2022.
The deal is expected to nearly quadruple Seplat’s oil output to over 130,000 barrels per day. Chief executive officer of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Gbenga Komolafe, made this known in Abuja on Monday.
Speaking during NUPRC’s third-anniversary celebration and launch of Project 1MMBOPD Initiative, Komolafe said the ExxonMobil approval was one of the four divestment approvals granted by the federal government out of the five applications.
“We are happy today to announce the status of the divestment exercise conducted diligently by the Commission in line with the provisions of the PIA. Out of the total of five divestment applications for consent received by the Commission, a total of four, representing 80 per cent passed the regulatory test and secured ministerial consent.
“The transactions are: Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPNU) to Seplat Energy Offshore Limited; Equinor Nigeria Energy Company Limited to Project Odinmin Investments Limited; Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited to Oando Petroleum and Natural Gas Company Limited and TotalEnergies EP Nigeria Limited to Telema Energies Nigeria Limited.” He, however, said that the divestment of Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited’s assets to Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited could not scale the regulatory test.
